Blackberry Z10 vs Samsung Galaxy S3: Brothers from other mothers

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The popularity of Samsung smartphones in the last two years is a big part of the shift towards handsets with 4-inch+ screens. For a company like BlackBerry to attempt a rebirth into the mobile ecosystem, they would be crazy not to try and release a phone in that same arena. But they did, and the company formerly known as RIM also packed their new smartphone with some very nice tech, enough that the Z10 is a viable competitor to the Galaxy S3.

Specs

The Samsung Galaxy S3 is actually more than one phone. For the purposes of this comparison, we will be looking at the US LTE version of Samsung’s flagship smartphone. This means we will be looking at a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor clocked at 1.5Ghz with 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage with a removable microSD card slot, and a 2100mAh battery. That specs list reads nearly line for line the same as the BlackBerry Z10, with a few seemingly insignificant differences. The BlackBerry Z10 is actually running a 1.5Ghz Snapdragon S4 Pro, which is a slightly different (system-on-a-chip) SoC than the regular S4.

The S4 Pro offers a more powerful GPU and more capable processor in terms of both performance and power consumption. As a result, the BlackBerry Z10 is able to pack an 1800mAh battery and still offer the same usage expectancy as the Galaxy S3.

The Galaxy S3 and Blackberry Z10 also feature 8MP cameras, though the Z10’s 2MP front facing camera is just slightly higher resolution than the 1.9MP on the SGS3. While the GS3 has an excellent camera the Z10’s has been faulted for it’s performance in very low light. (It works great in normal lighting though.)

The most obvious difference between the two phones is the screen size, where Samsung’s 4.8-inch screen is noticeable larger than the 4.2-inch on the BlackBerry Z10. The quality of the screens, despite the size difference, is similar as well. The 720p AMOLED screen on the Galaxy S3 is 306ppi will offer deeper blacks and sharper colors than the 1280×768 LCD display on the Z10, but BlackBerry’s 356ppi IPS screen will hold up better in direct sunlight than the Galaxy S3.

Both phones also feature Bluetooth 4.0, dual band 802.11 A/G/N WiFi, NFC, and an LTE radio. Neither phone supports wireless charging out of the box, but the Galaxy S3 can if you replace the battery cover with one that offers the feature.

On paper, these phones are about as close to identical as you can get, though the Galaxy S3 has been out for almost a year and Samsung is rumored to be right around the corner from releasing a vastly superior Galaxy S4.

Look and feel

While these two smartphones are nearly identical under the hood, the Galaxy S3 and the BlackBerry Z10 couldn’t look more different on the outside. Samsung designed the S3 to be nothing but curves and smooth soft plastic. In your hand the Galaxy S3 feels ultralight, to the point of making me terrified of dropping it. Unlike previous Samsung phones the Galaxy S3 manages to feel solid, meaning the plastic doesn’t flex or bend as you squeeze it in your hand. The Galaxy S3 was released in several colors, though the pebble blue and white models are by far the most common.

The BlackBerry Z10 is only 0.1 ounce heavier than the 4.7 oz Galaxy S3, but the phone feels very different in the hand. The Z10 feels like a brick, made of thicker plastics with a variety of textures across the surface of the phone. while Samsung worked to make the S3 feel like a single solid piece of plastic, the Z10’s textured back and hard lines offer a more industrial experience. The S3 is taller, wider, and just slightly thinner than the Blackberry Z10, placing the phone right on the edge of being uncomfortable to use with one hand.

If you’re choosing a phone based purely on look and feel, the Galaxy S3 would win on style points alone. If you’re interested in a phone that feels like it would survive a drop or two, the Z10 will be much more your pace.

Software

Easily the biggest difference between these two phones are the operating systems. The Samsung Galaxy S3 is running a heavily modified version of Android that Samsung calls “TouchWiz”, while the Z10 is running the all new BB10 OS optimized for an all screen experience. Samsung and BlackBerry have both focused on a gesture driven experience with their operating systems, though Samsung still keeps a few hardware buttons around for navigation. BlackBerry 10 has a very rigid user experience with a handful of personal options, while Samsung’s flavor of Android OS has more settings and options than BlackBerry World has apps to install on the Z10.

Apps are a big deal for a smartphone today, and while it may not be fair to compare the massive library of apps, music, and movies in the Google Play Store to the brand new BlackBerry World, users are going to want to go where they know apps are being made. BlackBerry worked hard to make sure there were 70,000 apps ready to go in their new store, but the next step will be to convince major app developers to make BlackBerry a priority when making new apps. When you see that sign in the store that says “check out our app!” if the BlackBerry logo doesn’t start showing up soon it will cause users to lose interest.

And the winner is…

Existing BlackBerry users, or users who have been waiting for BlackBerry users to make an effort should be very excited for the Z10, but it would take a lot to convince someone who has never used a smartphone before to pick that phone over the Galaxy S3.

Put simply, there’s nothing you can do on a BlackBerry Z10 (that the average user is actually interested in doing) that you can’t do on a Galaxy S3, except for BBM. In fact, if you chose to, you could re-create most of the BlackBerry 10 user experience on the Galaxy S3 by installing a custom launcher and a virtual keyboard that emulated the features in BB10.